Chase of Identity
by giomoretti
Summary: Four young friends from New York City went through an experience made by Dr. Phillip Howards, a genius and mysterious scientist. Their bodies and brains got new and improved skills, but now they have to deal with Howards's insane plan of ruling the world by cloning their modified DNAs after mutation and creating super androids in order to put every power against him down.
1. Big Bang!

A lovely and sunny Monday morning is the first spot of our story. Alexander Kipling, a 25-year-old lawyer who lives in New York City, had just decided to practice his profession after quitting his high school rock band – he just couldn't stand his parents' complaints about it anymore, although he did want to be famous because of his music – and, on that day, he was going to wear his suit and tie for the first time. Not that he was excited about it, but he did think it was easier to do what his parents wanted him to, at least until he had money enough to leave their house and take care of his own business.

On the other hand, his best friend, a 22-year-old Science teacher named James Fletcher, is always trying to convince him to do the opposite and follow his dream of becoming a rock star. He does believe that you must do whatever makes you happy, no matter what other people think about it or how much money you will earn for that. If you're happy, that's OK. But Alex is not that optimistic.

Right before leaving for the office, he called James to ask for some advice. Actually, he had the impression that his days used to go really good if James wished him so. It was his first day as a lawyer, so he did need this motivation. After almost 15 rings, the phone was finally answered.

— Hello…? — A sleepy voice spoke on the other side of the line.

— James, don't tell me you were still sleeping…

— Of course I was. I don't have any class on Monday mornings. You were supposed to know that, my beloved best friend.

— Oh, that's true. What an easy life that I would love to have…

— And since when my life is easier than yours?

— Since today. What happens today, my beloved best friend?

A brief silence, followed by the noisiest and most hysterical laughter ever. Alex almost threw the phone on the floor and stepped on it, but he really didn't want to spend his first income buying a new one. James stopped laughing for a while to take a deep breath and speak again.

— Wait, dude, wait. Please, tell me that you are wearing… Suit and tie. Are you wearing suit and tie?!

— Yes, James, I am wearing suit and tie. Any problem about that…? — Alex sibilated, trying to control his anger as much as possible. Another load of laughter. Another deep breath. Speech.

— No, no problem at all… I just feel sorry because your tattoos won't see the daylight for a long time, probably. I'm sorry for laughing, but it's very, very funny to imagine you wearing suit and tie. It's totally out of your irreverent style.

— I should had thought about that before choosing the Law school…

— Definitely. But well, I'm sure you will be a great lawyer. You're great in everything you do.

— I wasn't great at Chemistry… — remembered Alex.

— Because that was my task in the gang. But hey, aren't you late? You were supposed to be in the office at 7 AM.

— Yes, I am late because I wasted my time here, listening to your insane laughter at my new life style. Anyway, I just called to say "good morning".

— Alex, you called to hear me saying "good morning", so here it goes: have a great day, believe in yourself, do your best and become the best lawyer in NYC. Then you can become the best rock star in the world.

— Thank you, dude. I hope so. Someday, maybe…

— At the right time, in the right place and with the right people. Now, go. Your first clients are waiting for you in the office.

— What would I be without your friendship, dude?

James smiled.

— A lawyer. Bye!

Alex went right to the office, feeling much better about himself. James had that great ability of cheering him up, and it had been like that since the day they met, at high school, some years before. James was a nerdy boy who loved playing chess and studying Chemistry and Physics. He was the best and his grades were filled with A's. And for that reason, obviously the thugs hated him. One of them, Clint, tried to beat him down in the school corridor right after the class, and he would have done so, if the basketball teen star Alex Kipling hadn't shown up at the right time and saved the young boy from those tough hands. From that day on, James and Alex became inseparable — and Alex's grades on Chemistry and Physics got better with a little help from his friend. On the lawyer day, he had this little help again.

His first day in the office went well, but once it was the first day, he didn't have a lot of clients. Actually, only three, and what they wanted from him was so easy to do that he didn't spend a lot of time on it. He was coming back home at 3 PM. He knew that James would be leaving school at that time, so he passed by there and picked him up so that they could have a coffee and talk about their days to each other, as they used to do at college. Well, he really wanted to talk about his day, but James didn't allow him to; as soon as he got into the car, he started talking like his life depended on it.

— Alex! You don't know what happened today! Do you remember that professor of mine named Phillip Howards? Of course you do, he was my favorite professor, he was a genius and all! So guess what? He invited me to be part of his new experiment! He is testing a new intravenous substance which is able to improve our brain skills, and he wants some young men to take shots of this substance! I really want to join his project and I wonder if you don't want to join it with me and…

— Wait, wait, wait, James! First of all, I don't remember who this professor is, and second, I don't want any substance in my veins! I'm happy with my brain skills, they don't need to be improved.

— Actually I think you need to have your memory improved, Alex.

— What do you mean!?

— I mean that this is going to be awesome! Think about it: you will be a more efficient lawyer because you will memorize absolutely everything about your clients! Please, join the project with me! I've already talked to Randall and Andrew, and they said they're in!

— Well, Randall is as crazy about these things as you, so I guess it was easy to convince him, but Andrew… You had a lot of hard work, didn't you?

— No, I just said that you were in and he agreed. He's looked up for you since high school.

Alex was perplexed.

— Sometimes I wish Andrew had his own opinion about certain things…

— Try to make him eat meat, then.

— That's what I'm talking about. Well, you will call him right now and tell him I'm not in.

— Will you hurt my feelings like this, Alex? I'm your best friend! — James faked some tears.

— Oh, you… Stop it! OK! I'm in! Damn it, you always convince me to do what I don't want to.

— If you didn't want to, you simply wouldn't agree at all, Alex. You're curious, aren't you?

Alex sighed.

— Yes, I am. When are we supposed to do that?

— Tomorrow. Dr. Howards gave me the address of his lab and we must be there at 7 PM.

— 7 PM? Hm, that's unusual. But it's better for all of us. So... Can we talk about other parts of our days now?

In the following day, Alex left the office at 5 PM; some new stuff to do. He had enough time to go home, take a quick shower and pick up his friends at their houses before going to Dr. Howards' lab, though. James and Andrew, a 20-year-old Biology graduate student who studied at the same school than James and Alex, seemed to be the only ones who were really excited about the experience they were about to go through. Randall, the 19-year-old Physics graduate student, also from the same school, was always in a bad mood.

As soon as they got into the lab, Howards took them to a room full of vials, syringes, needles, cotton, and some other weird stuff. The four of them lay down on stretchers and each one received his own shot: Alex's had a vivid yellow color, which Howard said to be good for the memory; James's was light blue, and it would be good for concentration (James used to be very distracted about almost everything); Randall's was intensely red, which would improve his ability to solve logic problems (he loved that); and for last, Andrew's had a dark green color and it wouldn't help any brain skill, but it would improve his metabolism and nutrient uptake from all the vegetables he ate as a vegetarian. They didn't feel anything special about the shots on that night, and each one went home to have their last night's sleep as common human beings. Something was about to explode, and only Dr. Howards knew what it was.


	2. Changes

One week after the yellow substance shot on his arm, Alex was sitting on his couch and reading some Law books when he started feeling queasy. Blurred vision, dizziness, nausea, and a huge burden on his arms and legs. He tried to stand up, but fell over the small table in front of him and dropped down all of the other books; his symptoms got worse, and he could barely move now.

He heard his mom coming from the kitchen and yelling his name, but her voice seemed to be very distant from him; when he tried to look up, the duplicate image of his mother was suddenly taken by a black figure, which dragged and locked her up inside a place which seemed to be the pantry. He heard some screams, but the sound was coming back and forward. His mother's female voice turned into his father's male and desperate voice, which was quickly silenced by a weird knock sound. Alex had no idea of what was going on, and he couldn't even scream for help; now his whole body was in pain due to the burden that was not only in his arms and legs anymore.

He felt someone catching him and dragging him out of the house, passing through the garden and throwing him inside what seemed to be a car. A black car. His vision cleared up a little and he could notice two men running toward the car and getting in; there was another one already inside in the car, now holding him in his arms. The three men were wearing black clothes and black masks, showing only their eyes. The last thing he remembers is the moving car leaving the front of his house, a pair of brown eyes looking at him and four fingers gently sliding on his face. Everything got dark after that.

A strong headache didn't allow him to keep his eyes opened for long as soon as he woke up. He felt his head spinning around many times, and all of a sudden, he moved his body to the side of the bed he was lying on and threw up. The headache was gone, although he was still feeling weak. He kept his head down, trying to recover himself, when a familiar voice caught his attention.

— Ew! See what you've just done! No way I'm going to clean it!

He slowly moved his head up to see who was talking to him.

— Randall…? What are you doing here…? Where am I…?

— You are in an old wooden house in a desert beach, very far from New York City.

He tried to sit on the bed, and took a fast look around. Old and dusty furniture, wooden floor and walls, a broken window. Far from NYC.

— Why am I here…? Why are we here…?

— It's a long story, but your old fellow James will explain as soon as you feel good enough to smash his skull. It's his fault, anyway. — Randall left the bedroom and slammed the door, but it was wide open again when Andrew got in.

— Alex! Are you OK? Oh my God, you threw up! — He ran to catch a cloth and clean the floor, and he was doing everything so quick that Alex had to hold his arms to make him stop.

— Andrew! Look at me. What's going on? What are we doing in this old house? In a beach?

— Oh, yeah… You've just waken up. Did Randall say it's a long story?

— Yes. And he also said that I will smash James's skull when he tells me the story.

— Don't do that. He didn't know Dr. Howards's intentions…

— Dr. Howards? What? Tell me what you know right now, Andy!

— Well… Do you remember when we took those substances on our arms, ten days ago?

— Ten days ago? It was one week ago!

— You've been sleeping for three days. I'm sorry, I exaggerated on the hypnosis.

Alex's head started spinning again. He shook it and slapped his face a few times, until Andrew held his wrists.

— Stop, you're gonna hurt yourself! I mean it!

— Andrew… Are you nuts? I only slapped my face weakly and…

— The word "weak" is not in your vocabulary anymore. You can't do anything weakly.

— I didn't hurt myself.

— Sooner or later you will.

Alex was about to test his "new strength" by punching Andrew, but he decided to keep calm and ask again.

— Andrew, what's going on…?

— Dr. Howards injected substances in our veins that were able to change our DNA in a very advanced way. We acquired new skills and abilities above the human capacity.

Alex stared at Andrew for a while, then laughed.

— Jesus Christ, Andrew! What kind of comics have you been reading?

— He is telling the truth, Alex. — James's voice came from the window, where he was leaning on his elbows and watching his friends talking. — We are actually going through mutations right now. And we don't know when they will stop.

Alex tried to rearrange his confused thoughts; too much crazy information in a short period of time. In the day before (or three days before, according to Andrew), he was a New York citizen who worked as a lawyer in an office; now he was a mutant with skills and abilities above the human capacity, sitting on an old bed in an old house in a beach, miles away from NY.

— James… What happened, actually? We were supposed to have brain skills improved, weren't we?

— Yes. But Dr. Howards fooled us all. He is actually a crazy, obsessed and ambitious tyrant who loves playing with genetics and is planning to rule the world by creating super androids with improved DNAs, modified by five different substances that would give special powers to the DNA's owner. He used us as the hosts for the substances.

— So he is… testing the substances effects on… us?

— Exactly. And he wants to take us to his lab in order to do more experiments, collect our modified DNAs and finally create his super androids to put down any authority that goes against him. That's why we had to kidnap you at your home and hide here. By the way, your mother is safe and Randall didn't hurt your father.

Alex remained in silence. That was madness. Chemistry drove James nuts. Andrew was naive enough to believe him, or maybe he was nuts too, because he was talking about hypnosis and three-day long sleeps. Randall was angry because he knew he was nuts and wanted to leave that place as soon as possible. He couldn't have hurt his dad. That couldn't be happening.

He was about to get up from the bed and run away from there when Randall got into the bedroom again, with a cigarette between his lips.

— You don't believe, huh? You think James is nuts, Andrew is naive, and I am the only one who knows it besides you. But you are not going anywhere.

Alex got immediately scared. Did Randall _read_ his thoughts?

— Yes, I read your thoughts. My brain abilities are great, dude! But my favorite is this one. — Randall snapped his fingers and a wide red flame went up, lighting up his cigarette. — Welcome to your new life, my dear Alex.


End file.
